UTR Sports Announces Expanded 2025 Global Calendar, $11M Pro Tennis Investment
October 14, 2024
Palo Alto, Calif. (October 11, 2024) – UTR Sports, creator of the world’s most accurate tennis and pickleball rating system and world-class tournament management software, is excited to announce the first half of the 2025 UTR Pro Tennis Tour (PTT) calendar.
2025 marks the start of a significant global expansion of the UTR Pro Tennis Tour and will see the organization invest more than $11 million in 2025 into its proven pathway for rising professional players. The first three months of the 2025 PTT schedule feature more than 100 events. Throughout the year, PTT events will be held in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.
As other federations and providers have reduced their pro tennis investment, UTR Sports is poised to invest more money than ever into its emerging professional tennis pathway in 2025 and beyond. Earlier this year, UTR Sports and Sportradar announced a new partnership that paved the way for this expansion.
“We’re thrilled to launch this significant expansion of the UTR Pro Tennis Tour,” Mark Leschly, Chairman and CEO of UTR Sports, said. “By investing more than $11 million into rising pro tennis players across the globe, UTR Sports is showing once again how we’re committed to growing tennis globally and supporting this crucial period of time in a tennis player’s career.”
Providing athletes with opportunities for more competition and prize money is central to the PTT, now in its fifth year. Keeping with that focus, a new benefit of the PTT is the creation of a pool of $500,000, which will be available for eligible players. Additional details on how this pool will be awarded to players will be announced shortly.
The PTT aims to more than double in size next year, hosting over 20,000 matches at approximately 450 tournaments around the globe. The weekday round-robin format allows for players to compete in multiple guaranteed matches per tournament, providing improvement and much needed cost-effectiveness as it relates to travel and other expenses. The already popular seven- and eight-day PTT event formats will continue as well as a new global format of four-day events to further meet the needs of players.
Players who started their professional tennis journey on the PTT compete at the highest levels of tennis. At the 2024 US Open, 39 PTT players competed in the main draw, including five-time PTT champion Li Tu. The Aussie played four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Alex Michelsen, one of America’s brightest young tennis champions, has ascended into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings. The 20-year-old is expected to compete at the ATP’s year-end showcase event for its most promising young stars. Years earlier, though, Michelsen honed his game on the PTT, winning titles in 2021 and 2022.
Iryna Shymanovich battled three-time major champion Aryna Sabalenka at the 2023 Roland Garros and played in all four Grand Slam qualifying draws this year. She’s also found it valuable to continue playing PTT events. Shymanovich won two $25K titles just last month.
Tennis fans can catch all the PTT action on Amazon Prime, with matches at streamed events being available for all 1.6 billion global tennis fans to enjoy.